Baling-press.



A. E. GUMMINS.

BALING PRESS.

APPLIoATIoN FILED Nov. 4, 1910.

Patented May 16, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A. E. CUMMINS.

BALING PRESS.

APPLIUATION FILED Nov. 4. 1910.

Patented May 16, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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ARTHUR ELPHINSTONE CUMMINS, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

BALING-PRESS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 16, 1911.

Application led November 4, 1910. Serial No. 590,681.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR ELPHIN.- STONE CUMMINS, a subject of the Kingof Great Britain, residing at 58 Belsize Park Gardens, London, England,have invented new and useful Improvements in Baling- Presses, of whichthe following is a specification.

The press forming the subject of this invention is a horizontal endwaypress with one very long filling box having doors throughout its wholelength and large enough to take loose cotton thrown into it without anymanual pressure suflicient to form a whole bale; at one end of the boxis lixed a condensing chamber and at the end of this chamber is attacheda powerful cylinder in which works a double acting ram which by means ofa multiple rope gear attached to it gives on its return stroke thepreliminary pressure required to pull the loose cotton into the chamber;the ropes actuate a follower traveling inside the filling box and areattached to horns on the follower which horns project through slots inthe bottom of the filling box. In this way a loose cotton filling box ofvery large capacity can be provided at a very low cost, and thecylinder, ram and other gear formerly used for forcing loose cotton intothe chamber are entirely dispensed with thus greatly reducing the firstcost of the press while the size of the building necessary for the pressis also much reduced.

The details of construction of my press will be more readily understoodfrom the drawings accompanying this specification so I will at onceproceed to describe them.

Figure 1 is a part vertical section of a baling press made in accordancewith my invention, Fig. 2 is a cross section (to a larger scale) on theline A-A Fig. 1, while Fig. 3 is a part plan. Fig. 4 shows details ofthe box to a larger scale. Figs. 5 and 6 show details of the valves to alarger scale.

1 is a long box or trough, the greaterpart of which is broken away, theextreme ends only being shown. Fig. 4 is a cross section of the box toa. larger scale and Fig. 5 is a side view of a. portion thereof.

The box is formed of plain steel plates 2 on each side, back and front,the whole length of the top being formed of a series of doors 3 (shownopen in Fig. 1 and closed in Figs. 3 and 4); the bottom consists ofchannel and angle irons 4 only, as seen in Fig. 4, runninglongitudinally the full length of the box; these plates, channels andangles are retained in place by square binding T-brackets 5 between thedoors so that the box is perfectly ri id when erected in working order.Each door 3 is carried by eccentrics G on a shaft 7 so arranged that thefirst movement of rot-ation imparted to the shaft by any convenientmeans such as an arm fast thereon causes the door to slide toward theshaft thus withdrawing its front edge from beneath a shoulder 8 on thetop of the box (see Fig. 4). As soon as the door has thus been freed, acounterbalance weight 9 secured to it turns it back upon its hinge.

In the box runs a follower 10 provided with wheels 11 and having horns12 projecting downward through the bottom of the box 1. On to thesehorns are looped ropes 13 which pass to multiple pulley blocks 14 on anaxle 15 carried by wheels 16 running on a track 17. This axle is movedto and fro by a rod 18 connected to a ram 19 moving in a hydrauliccylinder 20. From these moving blocks the ropes pass to blocks 21secured to the cylinder. Though the follower might be actuated by asingle rope arranged in the middle of the press, I prefer to use tworopes and two pairs of pulley blocks one on each side as shown.

It will be seen that when the ram moves to the left the pulley blocks 14move away from the blocks 21 thus pulling on the ropes and moving thefollower 10 also to the left. When the ram moves in the oppositedirection, the follower is also moved to the right (keeping the ropes 13taut) by a rope 22 passing out at the right hand end of the box and overpulleys 23 on a standard 24 and so to a weight 25. During this lastmovement of the follower and while it is at rest in its extreme rightposition, loose cotton is thrown into the box 1, the doors of which arethen closed, and on the ram being moved to the left the follower 10pushes the cotton before it into the condensing or baling chamber 26.This chamber consists simply of two main steel sides 27 coupled to thecylinder 20 by means of projecting horns 28, those on the sides andcylinder end being bound together by strong steel hoops 29 shrunk onhot, eight horns in all being coupled in twos in this way; the two steelsides form the back and front of the chamber, and between them to formthe top and bottom steel and iron plates are inserted under lugs lcaston the main steel sides, the whole being bolted together by throughbolts from main side to main side. In the sides are fitted strong doors30 for hooping andreleasing the bale in the usual way. The top releasingdoor 31 opensv in a much easier and more gradual manner than formerly,by reason of being set on two eccentrics 32, and this is of greatadvantage insomuch that the bale is allowed to expand gradually as it isbeing condensed on four sides, instead of two as formerly when heldrigidly until nished before releasing the top door, a large economy inpower is thus effected. The opening of the door may be effectedautomatically as hereinafter explained.

When the follower 10 has reached the end of its travel to the left agrid 33 passes into and across the press and when it is in positionwater is again admitted to the cylinder as hereinafter described and theram is caused to move to the right compressing the bale. rllhe gridtakes the full pressure of the ram, vbeing supported by the main sides27 of the condensing chamber. The grid is preferably moved in and out bymeans of a quick screw 34 and hand wheel 35, see Figs. 2 and 3, butitmay be moved by any other convenient means.

If desired, and as has been already indicated, the doors of the baling.chamber may be opened automatically as follows: As the ram is nearingthe end of its stroke to the right' a lump 36 on the rod 18 cornesagainst a bell crank 37 connected to a bar 38 linked to arms 39 on theAshafts 40 carrying the eccentrics 32 so that the movement of the ramturnsthese eccentricsY and releases the top door 31. The bar 38 may alsobe connected to arms 41 on pins 42 which lock andunlock the side doors30'. Preferably alsoI so arrange the valves governing theY supply ofwater to the cylinder 2O that the'pressure shall be automatically cut 0Ewhen the ram reaches a predetermined position. With this object I mayuse the valves shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. I'nthis arrangement waterenters the valve box 43 by the port 44 and can flow bythe 'passage 45past the screw down valve 46 to the port 47 leading by the pipe 47X tothe left hand end of the cylinder and also by the passage' 48 past thescrew down valve 49 to the port'50 leading by the pipe 50X to the righthand end of the cylinder.

Branches 51, 52 leadfrom the passages 45', 48 to waste valves 53, 54. Inaddition a relief valve 55 is arranged in such a way that when' it isopen the pressure water flows directly to waste. This relief valve isop-A erated by aV lever 56 so weighted that the valve is normally closedbut it can be opened as follows: When the ram hasarrived almost attheend of its travel to the right the lump 36'comes against and rocks alever 57 which pulls a rod 58 rockingv a lever 59 and so pulling a rope60 connected to an arm 61 on the lever56 and so opening the reliefvvalve 55 and stopping the supply of water to the left hand end of thecylinder. The ram is stoppedA at the end of its return stroke by part ofthe follower 10 coming against a bell crank 62 linked by a rod 63 to abell crank 64 also connected by a rope 65 to the arm 61. Y. It isobvious that by altering the length of the ropes 13 the travel of thefollower 10 and consequently the point at which pressure is cut off fromthe right hand end of t-he cylinder and therefore the stroke of the rammay be altered. This is of great advantage when baling material such ashemp or jute that requires greatly less filling box `capacit-y than Aforcotton, much less working expenses being incurred, for the ram will beusing considerably less pressure water, and the speed of baling will beincreased.

The valves 46 and 49V are able to move slightly up and down on theirstems so that they will allow water to pass them to the cylinder but assoon as the pressure is relieved they drop by their own weight soimprisoning the water in the cylinder before they are screwed down andstopping'the ram dead. As will bp seen from Fig. 1 there is a largedifference between the areas of the two sides of the ram, the larger ormore powerthe full power of the ram can be at once turned on to thematerial by simply opening the valve 54.

The action of the press is as follows The ram is run full out andthebalance weight withdraws the filling box follower 10, the filling box isthen filled with loose cotton by means of the filling doors, and theVram retired, .which thus draws the loose cot` ton'mtc the condensingchamber, the grid is then inserted and the ram runout; as the i ram runsout the follower 10 retires leaving the filling box empty and readyformore cotton for the next bale, as soon as the'lash- Y ing doors back andfront open, the'bale is lashed and the ram is retired, and the balethrown out, the doorsV are closed andthe grid withdrawn, the rope gearcommences to act and draws up the farthercotton yfor a subsequent bale,and so on. v

l/Vhat I claim is V1. In a baling press,the combination of a condensingchamber, a hydraulic cylinder at one end of the condensing chamber, aram in the cylinder, a filling box at the other end of the condensingchamber, and mechanism whereby the movement of the ram in one directionforces the loose material from the filling box into the condensingchamber while the movement of the ram in the other direction compressesthe material in that chamber.

2. In a baling press, the combination of a condensing chamber, ahydraulic cylinder at one end of the condensing chamber, a ram in thecylinder, a filling box at the other end of the condensing chamber, afollower in the filling box, and rope gearing connecting the follower tot-he ram so that the movement of the ram in one direction causes thefollower to force the loose material from the filling box into thecondensing chamber while the movement of the ram "in the other directioncompresses the material in that chamber.

3. In a baling press, the combination of a condensing chamber, ahydraulic cylinder at one end of the condensing chamber, a ram in thecylinder the effective area of the two sides of the said ram beingdierent, a filling box at the other end of the condensing chamber, andmechanism whereby the movement of the ram in one direction forces theloose material from the filling box into the condensing chamber whilethe movement of the ram in the other direct-ion compresses the materialin that chamber.

4. In a baling press, the combination of a condensing chamber, ahydraulic cylinder at one end of the condensing chamber, a ram in thecylinder the effective area of the two sides of the said ram beingdifferent, a filling box at the other end of the condensing chamber, afollower in the filling box, and rope gearing connecting the follower tothe ram so that the movement of the ram in one direction causes thefollower to force the loose material from the filling box into thecondensing chamber while the movement of the ram in the other' directioncompresses the material in that chamber.

5. In a baling press, the combination of a condensing chamber, ahydraulic cylinder at1 one end of the condensing chamber, horns on thecondensing chamber, horns on the cylinder, and means for bindingtogether the two sets of horns.

ARTHUR ELPHINSTONE CUMMINS.

Witnesses:

H. D. JAMESON,l R. WILLIAMS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

